Structured Data for Small Businesses: Which Schema to Add First

Structured data is code that describes your page in a standard vocabulary (schema.org), so search engines can understand facts like your business name, address, opening hours, article dates or product prices. Some types can make pages eligible for richer results in Google. It does not guarantee rich results or better rankings, but correct markup removes guesswork.

Use JSON-LD

Google supports several formats but recommends JSON-LD: a script block in the page that does not change what visitors see. It is easiest to add and maintain. Google’s introduction to structured data covers the general rules.

Which types to add first

Start with the types that match pages you already have. Do not add a type just because it might produce stars or extra lines in results.

Example: LocalBusiness

Illustrative example for a fictional business; replace every value with your real details.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Example Plumbing",
  "url": "https://www.example-plumbing.com/",
  "telephone": "+44 113 000 0000",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "1 Example Street",
    "addressLocality": "Leeds",
    "postalCode": "LS1 1AA",
    "addressCountry": "GB"
  },
  "openingHours": "Mo-Fr 08:00-18:00",
  "areaServed": ["Leeds", "Bradford", "Wakefield"]
}
</script>

Rules that keep markup useful

• Mark up what is visible. Every fact in the markup should also appear on the page. Hidden or invented details can lead to manual actions.
• Keep it consistent. Name, address and phone should match your page and your Google Business Profile.
• Do not fake reviews. Only include ratings if they come from genuine customer reviews shown on that page, and follow Google’s review snippet guidelines. Self-serving reviews of your own business are not eligible for star snippets.
• One main entity per page. A product page describes that product; a blog post describes that article.
• Update it when facts change. Old hours or prices in markup are as misleading as on the page.

How to add it

• WordPress: most SEO plugins output Organization, Article and Breadcrumb markup automatically. Check their settings rather than adding duplicates.
• Shopify: many themes include Product markup. Check before adding an app that duplicates it.
• Wix, Squarespace and other builders: look for structured data or custom code settings in page SEO options.
• Custom sites: add the JSON-LD block to each page template, filled from the page’s real data.

Test before and after publishing

1. Use Google’s Rich Results Test on the live URL or the code snippet. It shows which rich result types the page is eligible for and any errors.
2. Use the Schema Markup Validator to check general schema.org validity for types Google does not use for rich results.
3. After Google recrawls, check the Enhancements reports in Search Console for errors across many pages.

Common errors

• Missing required properties (for example a Product without a name, or an Offer without a price).
• Two different plugins outputting conflicting Organization markup.
• Dates in the wrong format; use ISO 8601 like 2026-11-02.
• Markup copied from another site with their details still in it.

Structured data works best on a site that is already crawlable and indexable. If your pages are not appearing in Google yet, work through the indexing checklist first.